Indicators of Family
Engagement
Melanie Lemoine and Monica Ballay
Louisiana State Improvement Grant/SPDG
Background Information

LaSIG 2



Second round of SPDG funding
Main project goals to improve student outcomes
by improving the service delivery at the state,
district, school, and individual levels
Focused on two issues


Professional development
Improving family engagement
Background Information

Research on family engagement



Students perform better when positive
relationships and partnerships exist between
families and schools
When family members are leaders in the school,
outcomes improve
The school improvement process is more
effective if it includes all stakeholders including
family members
A Significant Concern


Schools expressed a desire to improve
relationships with families but lacked
direction to do so
Two needs


A simple measure for schools to determine what
structures were currently in place
A measure of the level at which schools were
engaging families
Developing the Scale

Strategist group




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Determine what is important
Review the literature
Review current assessment tools
Capture all voices
Consultant

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Narrow focus
Assist in developing the actual scale
Developing the Scale
 Organized
around four dimensions
Communication
 Family Support
 Decision Making
 Partnerships

Developing the Scale

A total of 25 items

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The number of Items for each dimension ranged
from six to eight
Responses to each item on a four point Likert
scale ranging from strongly disagree to strongly
agree
Pilot Tests

Two pilot tests

Pilot 1

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Five schools with approximately 150 respondents
Items functioning well
Respondent comments resulted in adding two items
Pilot 2



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Four schools with approximately 150 respondents
Six items deleted
One item moved to a different subscale
Items functioning well
Indicators of Family Engagement Scale

General characteristics


21 items reflect perceived levels of family
engagement
Four subscales




Communication
Family Support
Decision Making
Partnerships
Family Engagement Survey
for Schools
Family Engagement Survey
for Schools
Family Engagement Survey
for Schools
Family Engagement Survey
for Schools
Indicators of Family Engagement Scale

Technical issues


Item functionality
 All item reliabilities were acceptable
 All coefficients across all scales functioned well
Validity
 Content validity established in development
 Construct validity confirmed with a principal
components factor analysis using varimax rotation
 All items loaded as expected except for a single
exception
Indicators of Family Engagement Scale

Technical Issues (Cont’d)

Reliability
 Cronbach alphas for the total scale and subscales
were calculated
 Scores were .86, .81, .86, .83, and .93 for the four
subscales and the total score respectively
Indicators of Family Engagement Scale

Scoring
 Subject must respond to at least 75% of
the items on the total scale or any
subscales
 Scores are the means of non-missing
items for the respective total and
subscale items
Indicators of Family Engagement Scale

Score interpretation
Score
Range
Level of Engagement
1.00 – 1.50 Insufficient level of meaningful family
engagement
1.51 – 2.50 Low level of meaningful family engagement
2.51 – 3.50 Moderate level of family engagement
3.51 – 4.00 High level of family engagement
Survey Administration
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14 Districts
120 Schools
Online application
through Survey
Monkey
Some sites
conducted all 3

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Facilitated results
discussions with
staff
School
improvement
decisions
Triangulation of
data
Triangulation of Family Engagement
Across Stakeholders
School
Survey
Family Survey
Student Survey
Alignment of Surveys:

School Survey


Family Survey

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A variety of methods such as but not limited to
phone calls, newsletters, or e-mail are used to
communicate with families in my school.
A variety of methods such as but not limited to
phone calls, newsletters, or e-mail are used to
communicate with my family.
Student Survey

A variety of methods such as but not limited to
phone calls, newsletters, or e-mail are used to
communicate with me and my family.
Alignment of Surveys:

School Survey


Family Survey

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Families are informed of academic programs.
I am informed of the school’s academic programs
available for my child.
Student Survey

The school informs my family and me of
academic programs.
Survey Results
 Correlate
survey results and SPS
 Triangulation
 Impact
of survey results
on individual schools
Top 10 Schools with SPS 114 or ↑
High School
Results from all 3 groups:
School
Families
Students
Overall Score:
3.32
Overall Score:
3.40
Overall Score:
2.93
Communication: 3.59
Family Support: 3.22
Decision Making: 3.12
Partnership: 3.33
Communication: 3.55
Family Support: 3.39
Decision Making: 3.28
Partnership: 3.41
Communication: 3.01
Family Support: 2.95
Decision Making: 2.79
Partnership: 2.98
Elementary School
Results from all 3 groups:
School
Families
Overall Score:
3.22
Overall Score:
3.14
Communication: 3.54
Family Support: 3.17
Decision Making: 3.10
Partnership: 3.08
Communication: 3.15
Family Support: 3.18
Decision Making: 3.06
Partnership: 3.13
Impact on Schools
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Ah-ha moments
Baseline data for schools were established
Schools began looking more closely at other
family measures
Schools created a more effective action plan to
engage families when data were displayed
numerically
School staff wanted more answers to survey
results
Use of the Scale

Short term plans


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Provide a self assessment of the level of family
engagement by school, family, and/or student
Identify the strengths and areas of need in terms of family
engagement
Provide access to additional resources provided by LaSIG
Long term analyses


Incorporating the results into school improvement plans
Correlation between survey results and student
achievement
Discussion Question:
What
initiatives are
currently underway in
your state to support
family engagement?
Discussion Question:
What
resources are
available to schools and
districts to support family
engagement?
Discussion Question:
What
assessment tools are
currently in place to
measure family engagement
at the school, district, and
state level? How are they
working?
Contact Information
 Louisiana
State University
Melanie Lemoine
 lemoinem@lsu.edu
 Monica Ballay
 mballay@lsu.edu
 www.lasig2.org
